<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Could We Be Happy? (Or Is It Impossible?) by Alecexistsweguess</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27339805">Could We Be Happy? (Or Is It Impossible?)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alecexistsweguess/pseuds/Alecexistsweguess'>Alecexistsweguess</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Pancakes At Midnight [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anbu Hatake Kakashi, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Refrenced Child Neglect, Kid Uzumaki Naruto, Mentions of Naruto having a family, Mentions of OC's - Freeform, Pancakes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 00:21:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,047</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27339805</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alecexistsweguess/pseuds/Alecexistsweguess</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“What’s your name, little one.” She asked in a sweet voice. </p>
<p>The little boy looked up at her. </p>
<p>“name?” he asked. </p>
<p>“Yes, what is your name?” she asked again.</p>
<p>“I don’ hav’ one.” </p>
<p>She frowned at this, ‘he doesn’t know his own name. Had no one called him by it?’ Ataeru didn’t like that at all. </p>
<p>“Your name is Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto.” </p>
<p>The boy blinked surprised but after a minute he gifted her with a smile brighter than the sun itself. </p>
<p>Then Naruto woke up. </p>
<p>(Or in which Naruto had a family once long ago for a small period of time, he aches to have another. His new family might start with the silver haired man he meets at the memorial stone.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Pancakes At Midnight [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1996372</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>86</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Could We Be Happy? (Or Is It Impossible?)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>The concrete was burning hot, as the sun beat down on anyone under its rays.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Little blonde boy sat half covered in shade, the other half of him burning in the heat. He stared at the ground with a blank look on his face. He was small too small, many could almost see his bones poking out from underneath his skin that was covered in dirt. No one even gave him a second glance.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Suddenly a shadow of a person loomed over him. He looked up startled and saw a hand holding out a water bottle. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Drink, you look dehydrated.” A femine voice said.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> The boy looked past the hand and up to the woman’s face. Her face, voice, aura, and body posture held no malice because of this he knew it was safe to take the water so he did. The woman had brown hair with purple ends that went to the middle of her back. Her eyes were a hazel color. She wore a standard Jounin uniform.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> “Hello, my name is Tsuneni Ataeru.” She said with a small smile as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a protein bar that she then gave to him. He took it thankfully. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“What’s your name, little one.” </em>
  <em>She asked in a sweet voice.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> The little boy looked up at her. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"</em>
  <em>name?” he asked. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Yes, what is your name?” she asked again. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“I don’ hav’ one.” </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>She frowned at this, ‘<span class="u">he didn’t know his own name. Had no one called him by it?’</span> Ataeru didn’t like that at all.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> “Your name is Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto.” </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The boy blinked surprised but after a minute he gifted her with a smile brighter than the sun itself.</em>
</p>
<p>Then Naruto woke up.</p>
<p>He looked at his clock, it was midnight. With a sigh he got up and went to the kitchen, Naruto scavenged his cabinets but couldn’t find everything he wanted. He sighed again going back to his room to change into clothes.</p>
<p>Naruto knew he had to go to the academy tomorrow he only started a week ago. He hated it there he really never wanted to go back but it was required to be a shinobi so he went nonetheless.</p>
<p>He went out his window because it was closer than the door. He took the roof tops over to the memorial stone. The memorial stone where his mother’s and Ataeru’s names were engraved. He had no success in finding his father’s but that could be for many reasons, Naruto preferred to not think about all of the possibilities because it would drive him insane trying to find the truth.</p>
<p>When Naruto reached the training ground the stone was in sight but there was also a man with silver hair (an ANBU from the looks of his uniform), he stood slouched over the stone with a mask covering the lower half of his face.</p>
<p>He looked so lost.</p>
<p>It hurt Naruto because he knew that he also wore that look.</p>
<p>Maybe that’s why.</p>
<p>Maybe that’s why he walked forward toward him.</p>
<p>Maybe that’s why he opened his mouth.</p>
<p>Maybe that’s why he wanted this man to be a part of his family even though he still has only one brother left. (And sure Naruto had friends but they weren’t family because family just didn’t feel the right way to describe them.)</p>
<p>One brother in a coma.</p>
<p>One brother left out of eight other siblings.</p>
<p>One brother who was probably wasn’t going to make it to the end of the month. But that didn’t really matter why, it only mattered that he opened his mouth to talk to the silver haired man.</p>
<p>“Hey.” Naruto barely whispered, he was slightly surprised that the man heard him.</p>
<p>He turned around quickly and pulled out a kunai, startled to be broken out of thoughts. His single eye scanned the field only stopping when he saw Naruto he calmed slightly putting the kunai away.</p>
<p>“What are you doing here this late?” He asked.</p>
<p>“Could ask you the same ANBU-san.”</p>
<p>The man only raised his visible eyebrow. Naruto aporched the stone stopping next to the man.</p>
<p>“So, what’s your name ANBU san? I’m Uzumaki Naruto.”</p>
<p>“Why?”</p>
<p>“‘Why’ what?”</p>
<p>“Why do you want to know.”</p>
<p>“Cause you looked alone too. Why else?”</p>
<p>“Maa, I guess that’s logical.”</p>
<p>There was silence for a moment. “So?” Naruto asked.</p>
<p>“Hm ‘so’ what?”</p>
<p>“What’s your name ANBU san?”</p>
<p>“... Hatake Kakashi.”</p>
<p>Naruto grinned and looked up at him.</p>
<p>“So Hatake san have you ever heard of pancakes?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>----</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As it turned out no Kakashi never had pancakes before, he never even had heard of them before. Never being able to eat them made some sense because they aren’t made in the Fire Country they were made in Kumo and Ataeru only knew about them after traveling there. She taught all of them (him and his eight siblings) how to make them; pancakes to them is the ultimate comfort food for nightmares of any kind.</p>
<p>So Naruto gave Kakashi a long lecture on pancakes where they came from, what you need to make them, and most importantly how to make them. He then asked Kakashi to tell him everything he had in his kitchen so he knew if together they had the right stuff to make them.</p>
<p>Surprisingly Kakashi did have everything he needed and Naruto forced him to go grab the things he made a list of and come to his apartment and threatened to hunt him down to Naruto’s best ability because he needed to make some pancakes God damn it. Another surprise is that Kakashi actually listened and brought everything requested and stuck around. This made Naruto extremely pleased.</p>
<p>As Naruto mixed together the dry ingredients he hummed a song that he was working on with one of his friends.</p>
<p>“What song is that? It sounds good but I don’t think I’ve heard it before.”</p>
<p>“Oh um it’s a song that I’ve been working on with my friend.”</p>
<p>Kakashi blinked. “You make music?”</p>
<p>“Hmh, it’s kind of like our form of therapy. I mean I help my friends turn their trauma and experiences and stuff into something beautiful like music. I guess it’s our own way of saying that we aren’t going to hide our ‘shames’ or whatever you wanna call it.”</p>
<p>“... So what’s this one about.”</p>
<p>“Well it’s about how my friend was cheated on by his boyfriend and that he loved him a lot and guy just used him to do things for him, but eventually he was able to say ‘fuck you’ straight to his face.” Naruto said with a laugh, but then he paused.</p>
<p>“You're okay with it right?”</p>
<p>“Okay with what?”</p>
<p>“That my friends aren’t heteronormative.”</p>
<p>Kakashi almost froze. He hadn't even considered that, he forgot that there were people who didn’t approve of it.</p>
<p>“Of course I am.”</p>
<p>“Good.”</p>
<p>“Ano, what would you have done if I wasn’t?”</p>
<p>“Hm, well since your ANBU I can’t really beat you up so I guess I would give you food poisoning, then I would kick you out with the excuse of needing sleep or something.” Kakashi was kind of surprised that Naruto said all of that with a happy (too innocent) but not sadistic smile on his face.</p>
<p>Naruto only continued to cook the pancakes.</p>
<p>Kakashi then kind of zoned out. He wondered what Minato sensei would think if he could see his son now. He knew that Obito would be laughing at him for being lectured (about pancakes of all things) and threatened by an eight (seven?) year old. Rin would probably think that it was good he was talking to people even though it was only a kid.</p>
<p>Suddenly a plate was placed on the table in front of him.</p>
<p>“Here, I made some whipped cream in the bowl over there. There’s also some butter and syrup too.”</p>
<p>“Thanks.”</p>
<p>They ate in silence. When they finished, they did the dishes. The only noise was Naruto humming his song.</p>
<p>When they were done Naruto asked him “Would you like to stay the night. I mean, um well I only have one bed so we would have to share but there should be enough space on it for the both of us.” Kakashi understood what he really meant (‘I don’t want to be alone, please stay.’), so he agreed to stay. It was about 2:30 in the morning when they settled into bed.</p>
<p>“Hey, Kakashi-san?” Naruto mumbled sleepily.</p>
<p>“Yes?”</p>
<p>“Would you be my pack, I mean I have a brother but he’s gonna die soon and he’s also in a coma, and I really don’t want to be lonely again.”</p>
<p>And this time Kakashi did freeze because Naruto wanted to be his pack even though they had just officially met (and Naruto had a brother?). It had been years since Kakashi had a pack not since Minato sensei died, when Naruto was born the Sandaime forbade him from talking to Naruto unless Naruto himself approached him. Now Naruto talked to him, made him pancakes (lectured him about them too), and was asking him to be his family because his only family member was dying and he was afraid of being left alone.</p>
<p>So his answer was obvious.</p>
<p>“Of course I’ll be your pack.”</p>
<p>And Naruto was happy, the happiest he had been since the first time he had met his pack.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>---</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Hey, Nii-san?”</p>
<p>“Yes?”</p>
<p>“Could you train me tomorrow? I mean I want to learn the <span class="u"><em>kage bunshin</em></span>. ‘Cause you know I can’t do the <em><span class="u">bunshin</span></em> one just yet.”</p>
<p>“Why would you want to learn the <em><span class="u">Kage Bunshin</span></em> if you can’t do the <span class="u"><em>Bunshin</em></span>?”</p>
<p>“But Nii-san, I can’t do the <span class="u">Bunshin</span> because I have too much chakra and not enough control. I mean I’m working on control but I’m still not good enough for a <span class="u"><em>Bunshin</em></span>, ya know.”</p>
<p>Kakashi sighed. He knew that Naruto had a lot of chakra but he didn’t think that it would mess with him that much. But he supposed that it did make sense, that it would mess him up especially since all he was learning was E- rank jutsus which really didn’t require much chakra at all.</p>
<p>“Okay, but you can’t tell anyone where you learned it from since it is a Kinjutsu and I could get into a lot of trouble for teaching you.”</p>
<p>“Thanks, Nii-san. What are the drawbacks to the jutsu? I couldn’t really find any information on it since it’s a Kinjutsu.”</p>
<p>“The <em><span class="u">Kage Bunshin</span></em> is a technique that splits your chakra in half so it can make an exact clone. It’s something that even the byakugan and sharingan can’t tell the difference. But since it splits your chakra in half so if you have smaller chakra reserves it will kill you. It can only take one hit before it pops but all of it’s memories return to you so if you have it for too long it could cause you to pass out and give a migraine.”</p>
<p>Naruto thought about this for a moment, then he had a wonderful idea.</p>
<p>“Say, Kakashi-nii. Theoretically if I can make enough clones and have them last long enough I could make an information network of clones, right?”</p>
<p>Kakashi sighed. Naruto seemed to already have decided that having a clone network was worth constantly passing out or having a constant migraine.</p>
<p>“Yes, theoretically you could but if you have them last too long or have them all pop at once the overload of information could kill you.”</p>
<p>Kakashi could have sowrn he heard Naruto mumble something about ‘stupid fragile human bodies’.</p>
<p>“Well you’ll still teach me right?” he said, giving Kakashi his deadly puppy dog eyes.</p>
<p>He sighed again “Yes, remember that you can’t tell anyone where you learned it from.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, yeah I’ll just divert their attention or something if anyone asks.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>---</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Kakashi watched Naruto as he practiced, it had only been twenty minutes but Naruto almost had it down. <em>‘Yes,’</em> he thought a small fond smile appeared on his face as he watched the eight year old,<em> ‘we are a pack, and maybe soon others will be able to join our small pack. Well there’s still some time before any of that happens.’</em> Maybe he could open the Hatake clan lands afterall a pup needs room to grow.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Kage Bunshin = Shadow clones <br/>Bunshin = Clones<br/>Kinjutsu= Forbidden Jutsu</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>